A new paediatric audiology unit is being created at St Martin’s Hospital in Bath to screen newborn babies for hearing problems

The unit will house the newborn hearing programme, which has been running in Bath and North East Somerset since 2002.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Adrian Dighe said: “The unit will significantly improve the quality of what we can offer to babies needing further treatment and assessment following the screening programme or to children who develop hearing loss later.

“The testing environment for these babies and young people is very important in audiology, you need the right size room, level of acoustics, and assessment tools.

“Some of these assessment tools require silent rooms or very near silent rooms, and part of the project is to but in two of these rooms.

“The new unit will be perfect for the assessment and the family experience.

“The important thing is that if we can identify hearing loss early then we can intervene earlier.”

The unit is a joint initiative funded by NHS B&NES and Sirona Care and Health.

In the last 10 years Sirona’s health visitors have screened 50,000 newborn babies.

The new unit will make it easier to treat babies and brings the service under one roof.

Sirona’s business development lead Julie Sharma said: “Sirona is committed to ensuring that all our services respond to the individual needs of our users.

“This unit, specially designed for children with hearing problems, will be one of the most up-to-date in the country and will support our contribution to ensuring that every child is given the best opportunities to develop and grow.”